cultural resistance to shariatism in aceh 261
.I am George, Mohsen Abdelghan, Egypt, 2010, 10 min
.Saba Flous, Anis Lassoude, Tunisia, 2010, 15 min
.Jasmin Bird, Sulafa Hijazi, Syria, 2009, 90 min⁴⁹
In 2010:
.Caramel, Nadine Labaki, Lebanon, 2007, 90 min
.The Stoning of Soraya M, Cyrus Nowraste, Iran, 2009, 110 min
.Baran, Majid Majidi, Iran, 2003, 98 min
.Le Grand Voyage, Ismael Ferroukhi, Morocco-France, 2007, 108 min
.Shouf Shouf Habibi, Albert Ter Heerdt, Morocco-the Netherlands,
2008, 85 min
.Turtle Can Fly, Bahman Gohbadi, Iraq, 2007, 95 min⁵⁰
The Arab Film Festival, organised by the Dokarim School, is an interesting
phenomenon within the ongoing process of Sharia implementation.
On the one hand, it seems that this programme supports the notion of
Sharia in Aceh. Many people attend the festival and participate in a series
of discussions after the screenings. Fozan realises that most ordinary
Acehnese regard ‘Arab’ and ‘Islam’ as being synonymous. Everything that
comes from the Arab world is considered Islamic and treated as holy.
Dokarim Arab Film Festival wants to show the contrary through films.
He believes that films may influence people in a peaceful way to be aware
of the distortion of the real meaning of Sharia. This is the way to support
‘Sharia’ by resisting Sharia, as he concluded.
6 Punk: Resistance to Sharia from the Street
A piece of writing appeared on the social network website, Facebook,
entitled ‘Aku Azhari, Aku Seorang Punker: Apa Ada Masalah Besar?’
(‘I am Azhari and I am punker: Is there a big problem with that?’). It
was posted by Azhari Aiyub on 13 February 2011.⁵¹ Within a matter of
hours, some 70 comments were posted in response. The article talks
The Dokarim report, 2009.
The Dokarim report, 2010.
www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150142263646015 (accessed 15 July 2011).
This article has also been published byDistraction Zine, vol. 4, June 2011. Internet
access can easily be found in many places including coffee shops in Banda Aceh
and is one of the valuable contributions made by the international development
presence involved in rebuilding Aceh after the disaster. Most Acehnese now have
a Facebook account.